Tuesday, October 26, 2010

October 26: Tower of Terror

On this day in 1997 The Wonderful World of Disney aired a supernatural thriller film titled Tower of Terror. Based on the theme park attraction at Disney World (opened since 1994) the film actually has no connection to Rod Serling's television series The Twilight Zone.

Tower of Terror revolves around the fate of 5 people who are killed in 1939 when the elevator they are riding in is struck by a bolt of lightning at the Hollywood Tower Hotel. Sixty years later newspaper reporter Buzzy Crocker (played by Steve Guttenberg) and his niece Anna (Kirsten Dunst) investigate the mystery of the hotel. They meet up with an elderly woman named Abigail Gregory (Amzie Strickland) who informs them that if they find a belonging of each person on the elevator ... they will unlock the mystery of the hotel and allow the ghosts of the elevator mishap to ascend to a better place.

Much of the film was shot at the Florida attraction (then located in the theme park called Disney-MGM Studios) with additional footage shot at a stage in Hollywood. It was Disney's very first attempt at turning a theme park ride into a film.